Say Yes to the Hard Thing!

We are strong, we are victorious, we are made in God’s image and thus we are made to do hard things. There is always something to be found on the other side of doing a thing that seems impossible. How many times do you allow yourself to do something you aren’t sure if you’ll be able to complete? I’m not sure I do it as much as I should.

How can you discover what you are designed to do if you never try anything you aren’t sure is possible?

Dang y’all. I never thought seeing a volcano errupt from up close is something I would ever get to see in my life. This past weekend most of my squad decided to summit a dormant volcano and camp on the top. From our campsite we were able to have an up close view of another volcano; Fuego, spewing smoke and lava into the sky, it was unreal. We camped close to the summit, and at 4am we woke up and climbed for about another hour so we could watch the sunset from the summit.

I am not exaggerating one bit when I say that it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done! With backpacks on it took 8 hours to climb to the top, it was loose dirt and uphill trudging the entire time. It was so steep of an incline that while it took that long to get to the top, it took less than 3 hours of slipping and falling on my butt to get to the bottom! Writing this two days later, I can confirm that there are sore muscles now in my legs that I didn’t even know I had LOL!

On Sunday morning, when we summited the volcano, the wind at the summit was so strong it threatened to throw me off my feet while climbing up. The dust was stinging my eyes and my face was coated in dirt from the dust being blow at me. On the hike to the summit it was pitch black dark and I had to carefully place my feet as to not slip on the loose dirt and fall back down.

The view at the top was breathtaking! Gods provision and creativity never fails to leave me in awe. The hard work was so so worth it. We were so high that we were above the cloud line and watched the sun rise over the clouds, with Fuego erupting in the background. Surreal is an understatement. It is more than I could ever have asked for or imagined.

How many times are we too content with what we have to ask God for more? There is always more. There is a visual that I have seen before in which there is a picture of a child playing in a puddle of water on the ground. The parents ask the child to leave the puddle because they want to take them on a trip to see the ocean. The kid refuses to leave the puddle because it is all they know; they have no idea the beauty of the ocean that they are promised.

This is the visual I was thinking about all the way up the mountain. We have no concept of the beauty that we are promised. This was hands down the most strenuous hikes I’ve ever done. Before I went there was temptation to not go. There was the opportunity to have a restful day, with a hot shower and alone time if I didn’t go (all commodities on the World Race.) Gosh am I glad that I went.

There were moments going up the volcano when I literally was unsure if I was able to take another step because I was so exhausted. The Lord sustains, people! He truly, truly, truly does.

How many times do we miss out on what God has to show us because something is too hard or dangerous? How many times do we miss out on relationship because we are afraid to ask a hard question? How many times do we miss out on intimacy with the Father when the hard thing in the moment is making space for Him? There is something to be said about choosing the hard thing. God delights in filling the gaps for us when we aren’t capable of doing something on our own.

Say yes to the hard thing!!!